


what in carnation?

by haleofStilesheart



Series: Valentine's Day Fic Giveaway (2017) [8]
Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Alive Hale Family, Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Human, Awkward Derek, College Student Derek, College Student Stiles, Crushes, Delivery Person Derek Hale, Florist Laura, M/M, Mentioned Laura Hale, Mistaken Identity, Mutual Pining, Pining Derek
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-02
Updated: 2017-03-02
Packaged: 2018-09-27 23:15:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,985
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10056245
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/haleofStilesheart/pseuds/haleofStilesheart
Summary: Deliveryman wasn't exactly Derek's dream job but it helped put him through school so he couldn't complain. Especially since it helped him meet the love of his life.





	

**Author's Note:**

  * For [GobsmackApplejack](https://archiveofourown.org/users/GobsmackApplejack/gifts).



> For the Valentine's Day fic giveaway prompt: Kira is sending Scott flowers or candies every day of February until Valentine's day. Derek is the delivery person and Stiles always answers the door bc Scott's at work. Mutual pining bc Derek thinks the deliveries are for Stiles, that he has a gf, and Stiles thinks he has no chance bc he is always in an awkward situation whenever Derek arrives. :)

Deliveryman wasn’t exactly Derek’s dream job but when his older sister opened a storefront for her floristry business — Laura’s Flora — and offered him a job, he knew he would have to be stupid not to accept it.

It spared him from having to get some vastly unrewarding minimum wage part time job at one of the various fast food joints scattered around the campus and having to deal with people all day long. His job mostly consisted of him driving around the county dropping off bouquets of flowers, the only interaction with other people the process of getting them to sign for their deliveries.

The pay was wonderful, Laura as generous as she was utterly obnoxious, compensating him enough so that he didn’t need to get an additional job like so many of his classmates. In turn, he was afforded more time to study and indulge in his more leisurely interests, giving him ample time to just relax and read, maybe have a nice glass of red wine, he had even taken up knitting.

And he was helping his sister pursue her greatest passion and lifelong dream of becoming a florist, something he was extremely happy to do. For over two decades, since they were both little, Laura had been fascinated by flowers and all aspects of botany, proudly boasting that her name literally meant laurel.

She always helped their mother in their burgeoning flower garden, never more happy than when her hands were dirty and her arms tired. She was rarely ever seen without dirt caked on the knees of her jeans, constantly ruining manicures due to her compulsion to weed the garden nearly every day.

Ever since she could read, an avid fan of picture books, she voraciously devoured every book, magazine, and newspaper that dealt with flowers and other plants. Derek could still remember when they were younger and Laura would insist that she would name all of her future children after flowers.

When she was ten, she memorized the entire language of flowers and all of its intricacies, however archaic it may have been, designing floral centerpieces for all of their family dinners based on the flowers’ meanings. She was still able to spout off the meanings, and the origins of the attached attributes, simply by memory at the slightest prompting.

Apart from the other benefits of his job, it also helped him with his own social awkwardness, helping him get over some of his shyness. He got to meet all sorts of new people while out on deliveries. For better or worse. People like Scott. 

Scott was quite possibly the most beautiful person that Derek had ever met. He was tall and leanly built, maybe a runner with his toned legs and lightly defined chest. He had big brown doe eyes that were somehow simultaneously innocent and mischievous, complemented by his marmoreal skin that was dotted with an abundance of dark moles.

Aside from being drop dead gorgeous with his constantly disheveled brown hair and wide, easy grins that made his plump Cupid’s bow lips even more tantalizing, he was extremely intelligent and sarcastic with the sharpest wit Derek had ever encountered. He was full of snappy little one-liners and sassy comebacks, constantly making Derek’s day with his dry, acerbic humor and pithy little comments about his neighbors.

Plus, he was clearly a massive, unabashed nerd which Derek found insanely attractive, almost always wearing some sort of DC or Marvel merchandise whether it be Captain America t-shirt or a Green Lantern hoodie or even Deadpool pajamas. He even had a Batman charm on his keyring that he sometimes fidgeted with, an absent-minded little habit of his.

He was perfect. And he was in a relationship with the woman who kept sending him flowers.

For the past three weeks, a young woman by the name of Kira had been coming into the flower shop to order custom bouquets of flowers for her boyfriend, Scott. Kira herself was a lovely woman, smart and genuinely kind, a bit shy but overall sociable nonetheless, greeting both he and Laura with a bright smile and a polite little wave.

Along with every bouquet of flowers she ordered, she hand-wrote notes for Scott, coming up with little original poems and scribbling cute doodles of puppies and kittens and butterflies to accompany them. She always knew exactly what she wanted for her bouquets, without fail bringing along a list of flowers with her, apparently rather well-versed in the language of flowers herself.

The first bouquet she had custom ordered was a simple mix of purple lilacs and purple roses with a few violets sprinkled throughout, altogether a purple lover’s paradise. She had included a note about how much she had enjoyed their first date, complete with a little heart drawn beside her signature.

It had been Derek’s last delivery of the day, working the earliest morning shift available in order to attend his eleven thirty history class, taking care of most of the deliveries between five and ten in the morning. He had pulled up in front of a nice enough apartment building a few blocks away from his college campus, readjusting his hat before grabbing the bouquet out of the back of the company van and carefully jogging up the front walk to apartment 2D. 

He waited patiently for a few moments after knocking on the front door, shifting his weight from foot to foot while chewing the inside of his cheek as he heard some unintelligible voices from within the apartment. Soon enough, a man opened the door in just a towel, his leanly muscled chest on full display, droplets of water running down his pale skin, his white towel hanging enticingly low on his hips.

For a moment Derek forgot where he was, his mind going completely and utterly blank as he gawked at the half naked man he assumed was Scott. After a few seconds of uncomfortable silence, both men just staring at each other with wide, embarrassed eyes, Derek cleared his throat awkwardly and croaked out in a rough whisper, “Flower delivery for Scott?”

“Oh,” the man said, raising his eyebrows as his cheeks flushed an intriguing shade of blotchy pink, licking his lips, further distracting Derek. Wiping his right hand on the portion of the towel covering his thigh, in the process inadvertently tugging the towel lower, revealing a hint more of the dark path of hair leading down from his navel, he announced, “Uh, yeah. I’ll sign for that.”

With his hand now dry, he took the offered pen from Derek’s hand, their fingers brushing one another, and promptly signed the clipboard in Derek’s outstretched hand with a flourish. Handing the bouquet over, Derek snuck a curious peek at the signature the man had provided, a sudden intense attraction making him more inquisitive than usual.

The handwriting, hurried and sloppy, was barely more than chicken scratch but there was clearly an  _ s _ at the beginning, though it looked suspiciously like a  _ b _ . If he squinted and tilted his head to the side, he could make out the name  _ Scott _ , crushing any foolish hopes Derek might have had about a cute roommate answering the door.

Tipping his hat, Derek had forced a polite smile and bid the man goodbye, wishing him a nice day before turning on his heel and jogging back to the van. Still holding the bouquet, Scott had returned the sentiment along with a wave before retreating into the apartment, closing the door with a soft click. 

The pattern had continued for the next few weeks: Kira would come into Laura’s Flora and place an order, designing her own bouquets; Derek would deliver it; and Scott would answer the door in various states of undress. It was doing absolutely nothing to discourage the pitiful little crush Derek had on him.

Every time he made a delivery to 2D, he felt a little bit more guilty because with each delivery he fell for Scott a little bit more. And it certainly didn’t help that Scott was easily the most talkative person Derek had ever met in his twenty one years of life. Seriously, Derek suspected he had an unhealthy intake of caffeine.

He had a magnetic way of drawing people in, somehow able to drag Derek out of his shell and into some of the most interesting conversations of his life. The debate over whether or not Batman should be considered a superhero stood out in his mind, vividly remembering the way that Scott’s eyes had lit up in excitement when Derek confirmed that Batman was most definitely a superhero.

With Scott usually being Derek’s last delivery of his shift and an hour and a half before he had to be to class, they often had time for some conversation, Derek lingering in the doorway while he listened to Scott rant and rave about anything and everything. It was just friendly conversation, two people casually discussing current events and upcoming movies, engaging in a bit of gossip from time to time. The only problem was that Scott was a flirt.

Even if Derek had all the time in the world, he wouldn’t have been able to count all of the times Scott had winked at him, a sly, explicitly flirtatious smirk curling the corner of his lips. Practically every other word out of his mouth was a vague, thinly veiled flirtation, making all sorts of nonchalant comments about Derek being a catch.

The light flirting Derek could deal with, more often than not having to put up with obnoxious and pushy people on his deliveries, fighting off cougars every time he went out for a drink with his sisters, but it was the touching that was slowly but surely driving him wild. Apparently, Scott was a toucher. And he never even seemed to notice that he was doing it.

He would lay a hand on Derek’s forearm as they speculated about the plot of the next Star Wars movie, Scott vehemently against any sort of redemption arc for Kylo Ren, absent-mindedly stroking his thumb over the dark hair on Derek’s arm. He would squeeze Derek’s shoulder when he made a particularly funny joke or particularly lame pun, tossing his head back to laugh loudly at his own sense of humor, hand lingering longer than was strictly necessary.

And the worst part was that Derek like it. He liked the way that Scott would flirt with him, batting his big doe eyes up at him. He liked the way that Scott would casually touch his arm while mentioning a little tidbit about something he thought might interest Derek. He liked it. And he hated himself for it.

Scott was in a relationship for god’s sake! Derek shouldn’t be pining for him, in all honesty, he probably should have been repulsed by all the flirting and casual touching. He should be repelled by Scott’s gall to open the front door half naked, his nonchalance. But he wasn’t. So, he didn’t say anything and continued on with their twisted little routine.

A few days after Valentine’s Day, Kira somewhat surprisingly not ordering a bouquet for the holiday, Derek again had a delivery for Scott, a beautiful mix of orange roses and orchids, interspersed with a few white carnations. He carried it up the walk to the front door of 2D, idly wondering if Scott would actually be wearing clothes when he answered, hoping for his own sake that Scott bothered to throw some pants on.

Shifting the bouquet to his other hand, carefully balancing the clipboard, pen, and flowers, Derek knocked on the door, patiently waiting for Scott to answer, sparing a moment to run a hand through his hair, having left his company hat in the van. Scott opened the door a few short moments later, wringing his hands together with an anxious smile, his mole dotted cheeks a warm pink hue as he greeted Derek with a small wave.

Derek acknowledged the greeting with a bob of his head, handing the bouquet of flowers to Scott without any preamble whatsoever, watching as a wide smile stretched across his face. He accepted it with a beaming grin, reverently brushing his fingers over a few of the bright orange petals as he set the bouquet down on a side table by the front door.

“I think this is the prettiest one yet,” he announced, dragging the pad of his index finger over the clear glass of the vase the flowers were in, the Laura’s Flora logo etched onto it in white. Looking up at Derek with a tilt of his head, he amended, “Though I did really like the one last Friday. I’m a little partial to red. And those lilies were really pretty, the uh… Oh god, what are they called?”

“Amaryllis,” Derek supplied off the top of his head, remembering the awed look on Scott’s face when he had been presented with the bouquet of amaryllis, red chrysanthemum, and red roses. He had been wearing Iron Man pajama pants and a red hoodie when he answered the door the previous week, cheeks a deep red from the morning cold, his affinity for red apparent.

“Yeah, that’s it! Amaryllis!” Scott crowed, nodding his head enthusiastically, snapping his fingers before shooting finger guns at Derek with a wink. Lifting a hand to scratch the back of his head as he signed the clipboard Derek passed him, he leaned against the door jamb, looking up at Derek from under his lashes as he asked, “Um, would you like to maybe go out sometime?”

Derek blinked in surprise, his jaw nearly dropping as he gaped at Scott incredulously. Did Scott really just ask him what he thought he did? Was he serious?

While it was extremely tempting, Derek wanting nothing more than to get to know Scott better, feeling an intense attraction to the man, he just couldn’t accept the offer. Scott had a girlfriend for Christ’s sake! He was dating Kira! Sweet, kind, gentle Kira.

And as much as Derek really did like him, he just couldn’t be a part of infidelity in any way shape or form. Taking the pen and clipboard back from Stiles, he shook his head, ducking his chin as he demurred, explaining, “I’m flattered, but you’re in a relationship, Scott. Have a nice day.”

Derek turned on his heel and jogged down the front walk, just wanting to hurry back to his van so he could drive back to his apartment and get ready for class. He wanted to put it all behind him, wanted to forget about the whole thing and spend a few days wallowing in self-pity and Ben and Jerry’s.

“Wait, what? Derek! Wait!” Scott called after him, following him down the walk to the company van, an urgency in his voice that Derek couldn’t ignore. He spun around to face him, folding his arms over his chest and raising a dubious brow at Scott, waiting for whatever half-assed excuse or explanation he was going to give. Exhaling deeply, a slight pant in his voice, Scott desperately explained, “I’m not Scott.”

Derek raised his other brow, beyond skeptical but willing to hear him out, gesturing with his hand for him to go on. With another shaky breath, he fumbled to pull his wallet out of the back pocket of his jeans, flipping it open to brandish his driver’s license which identified him as someone not named Scott. Not at all.

He couldn’t make out the pronunciation of the provided first name, the lack of vowels in it somewhat baffling, but it definitely wasn’t Scott. He lifted his eyes to meet…whoever it was that he had been steadily falling for over the past three weeks, finding a self-conscious little smile on his face as he explained, “Uh, I’m Stiles, at least that’s what everyone calls me, and I have feeling there’s been a huge misunderstanding.”

“I thought they were for you!” Derek blurted, a wave of embarrassment crashing over him immediately after the words left his mouth, feeling like a complete idiot. Scratching the back of his neck, he elaborated, “The flowers. I thought they were for you. I thought you were Scott.”

“No. Scott’s my best friend. And my roommate,” Stiles elucidated, running a hand through his disheveled brown, tussling it further. With a soft smile that Derek dared to call a tad bit shy, he added, “I’ve just been signing for them because he usually has class until twelve.”

“Shit, I’m sorry,” Derek apologized, running the flat of his palm over the back of his neck, feeling like a huge jerk for his assumptions. He tried to come up with a way that he could possibly make amends but Stiles cut him off with a finger pressed to his lips.

“I know how you can make it up to me, though,” he announced with an intriguing amount of confidence, puffing his chest out a little as he grinned brilliantly at Derek. A tint of pink filling his cheeks at his own boldness, Stiles claimed, “You could go out with me this Friday. Maybe go see the Black Panther movie?”

Derek just nodded eagerly, a smile stretching across his own face at the prospect of going on a date with Stiles. Glancing down at Stiles’ finger that was still resting on his lips, Derek inquired, “I’ll pick you up at six?”

“It’s a date,” Stiles beamed, pulling his hand away and tucking his wallet back into his pocket. After a moment of just staring at each other, Stiles blushed deeper and spun on his heel to scurry back to his apartment, looking over his shoulder to wave at Derek. 

Smirking to himself, Derek rounded the front of the van and climbed into the driver’s seat, already daydreaming about their date. He might even get Stiles a bouquet, this time one actually addressed to him.

**Author's Note:**

> You can find me on [Tumblr](http://hale-of-stiles-heart.tumblr.com/), too!


End file.
